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| Sunshine Speedway Enters FINAL Turn | by Catherine E. Shoichet, St. Petersburg Times
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- For the owner of the 125 acres where the Sunshine Speedway sits, it's $20-million in the bank.
For the Florida Department of Transportation, it's a step toward finally building a connector between Interstate 275 and the Bayside Bridge.
For Charlie Meyer, it's a Saturday night with nowhere to go.
Meyer, 60, of Pinellas Park has driven in figure 8 races at the Sunshine Speedway every Saturday night since 1972. But at the end of November, he'll have to find somewhere else to race. Sunshine Speedway is closing forever.
The state Department of Transportation closed the deal Wednesday on its $20-million purchase of the property, putting an end to years of speculation that the track's time was running out.
The speedway will lease the property from the state through the end of the racing season, on Nov. 20. Owners of Sunshine Motocross and Sunshine Dragstrip, also on the speedway property, said they hope to continue leasing the land until construction begins on the new roadway. No date for that is set.
"I knew it was coming sooner or later. The state was going to get it one way or another," Meyer said. "I didn't think it was going to be quite this soon. But I guess progress takes over."
State and county officials see the deal as a turning point in transportation planning efforts. This purchase, with $17-million in federal funds and $3-million in state money, brings a much-needed connector between I-275 and the Bayside Bridge one step closer.
"It opens up a lot of opportunities for transportation and probably economic development," said Keith Wicks, assistant county administrator. "We're not exactly sure what might come knocking on the door."
Other potential plans for the site, he said, include a mass transit hub for light rail and high-speed trains. The nearby St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport had expressed interest in part of the land but has no current plans to buy it, said director Noah Lagos.
More land must be purchased before the link can be built. Officials have no firm timetable for construction.
"Right now we don't have any other funding in our five-year work program for acquisition or construction," said Don Skelton, director of transportation development for the Florida Department of Transportation. "This was a very strategic purchase. It was important to get this property purchased so we can continue moving forward with the project."
But some people who love the track preferred looking back Thursday, not forward.
Meyer remembers the first time he went to the Speedway as a 16-year-old. That was in 1960, the year the track opened. Leo Musgrave, a Pinellas County dairy farmer, had just decided to build the quarter-mile oval track on his 250-acre farm.
Musgrave died in 1983. His widow, Sibyl Musgrave, took over.
Then, in 1987, the Musgrave's daughter, Bonnie Hill, began running the track and promoting races with her husband, Frank.
Wednesday's purchase marked the end of years of speculation for them. Frank Hill said he first got wind of the state's plans to build a connector through the speedway property in 1983, but it wasn't until this year then anyone approached him with a deal.
"The state has not negotiated with us over those years, and that's kind of what was frustrating to us, because we really could never get a date," he said. "Each year, we were thinking, well, it's going to be this year. And here we are 20-some years later."
The main track is made of asphalt, a quarter-mile long, 65 feet wide, and it has 8-degree banking. But there's more to it than that.
There are the billboards opposite the grandstands for Quaker Steak and Lube and Leonard McCue, personal injury attorney. And the bleachers themselves, which are part metal and part wood, like the grandstand at an old football field.
Many see it is an important landmark, a remnant of a bygone era when for many there was only one thing worth doing on Saturday nights: racing.
For Denny Neighbor of Clearwater, racing there was a lifestyle.
Neighbor, 62, has been racing at the Sunshine Speedway for 31 years, and for the past three years he also served as the speedway's tech inspector.
Like many, Neighbor saw racing as a family affair.
"It's been a good way to keep people in my family out of trouble," said Neighbor, who said his son, daughter, wife, and grandson have all gone with him to the races.
Bill Bryant, 43, of Pinellas Park, was born the same year the track opened and started going to races when he was 21/2.
A former driver at the speedway, Bryant now videotapes races and sells the tapes to the drivers. He recalls sneaking into the track in the '70s and taking his silver and black 1973 Monte Carlo for a spin in the fan participation race right after he turned 16.
"That's our home track. It's a landmark, and now it's going to be gone," he said. "I know roads are important, but no one will ever put another race track in Pinellas County
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